LANXESS, the future company where the Bayer Group will combine almost all areas of its chemicals business and parts of its polymers activities, has began operating as an independent unit. For the moment the new structure only applies internally.

“We’ve reached an important milestone for the realignment of the group on schedule,” said Werner Wenning, chairman of the Bayer board of management. The company is scheduled to be listed on the stock exchange at the beginning of 2005, and the decision as to whether this will take place via an IPO or a spin-off will be taken over the coming weeks.

With sales of around E6 billion and nearly 20,000 employees, of whom approximately 11,000 are in Germany, LANXESS will be one of the leading chemicals companies in Europe. After the planned stock market flotation, it will operate as an independent company, thereby enabling it to react faster and more flexibly on the market.

“What we have to do now is use our strengths to their full advantage so as to achieve a competitive result and to ensure LANXESS a smooth transition to becoming an independent company outside the Bayer Group,” said Dr. Axel C. Heitmann, designated LANXESS CEO. “That’s why it’s still important to seize every single possibility for cutting costs and grasp every new market opportunity.”